The Case for Narration

I recently returned from my fourth year as a visiting story consultant for Doc Nomads. This unique film master’s degree program shepherds an international group of graduate students from Lisbon to Budapest to Brussels.

Their pedagogy is strong in observational-style shooting, but I’ve often felt frustrated by a reluctance to add exposition (a.k.a. narration). To my delight, many of this year’s student filmmakers used narration with great success, enhancing beautifully-shot verite footage.

Voiceover narration has been eschewed for the past few decades by many directors hoping to escape the “voice of god” that “tells viewers how to feel”.

But I’ve often felt that American and especially European filmmakers are underestimating this expository tool. Narration clarifies, reveals plot, gives context.

And in terms of lending tone, narration can convey more “voices” than just the authoritative thunder of omniscience.

Part of our generational resistance to narration can be blamed on filmmaking fashion. But I sometimes think it’s an easy excuse to duck the hard work of authoring one’s film.

Not so with this year’s Doc Nomads students! These directors chose vastly different “voices” for their narration, showcasing the breadth of styles that narration can take.

On one end of the spectrum, an Iranian filmmaker’s direct-camera address set a hilarious tongue-in-cheek tone. On the other end, a Chinese filmmaker’s spare narration (used four times) easily clarified confusing sections.

Another student narrated his clever historical essay about colonialism with poetic language. His soft voice had a slight accent, which mitigated his political content with the gentle tone of inquiry.

Most challenging for me was an Indian filmmaker’s experimental film. It desperately needed narration. Emotional and vivid, his scenes devolved into a tangle of unrelated sequences that quickly lost my attention upon first viewing.

Understandably, he wanted to try making an impressionistic film free of narration. But that style of film is difficult to realize, especially if one doesn’t shoot without a progression of ideas in mind.

I’m hoping he took my suggestion to frame his colorful footage within a slightly more linear memoir.

I believe that because audiences enjoy the clarity, companionship, and tonal perspective of a narrator, this important tool is making a comeback. That Doc Nomad students seemed to be picking up on the trend was inspiring!